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Kejriwal opposes L-G’s 5-day mandatory institutional quarantine order, says ‘will lead to evasions’
The chief minister is learnt to have told the L-G that people would avoid getting tested for the disease fearing they would be sent off to an institutional quarantine facility for five days.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday opposed Lieutenant governor Anil Baijal’s recent order on a mandatory five-day institutional quarantine for “each case” under home quarantine in the city, senior government officials said. Kejriwal’s comments came during a meeting with the Delhi Disaster Management Authority on Saturday noon.
Kejriwal also said that the move will shift the entire focus from moderate and serious patients of Covid-19 to those who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.
“This is a time when our main focus should be on increasing the recovery rate and keep fatalities at a bare minimum. Should our primary focus be on the serious patients or the asymptomatic or mild persons who actually need no medical treatment as such?” Kejriwal reportedly asked the L-G in the meeting.
An official, who was part of the meeting, confirmed that chief minister Kejriwal said that when the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is allowing home-isolation for asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic cases across the country, “why were different rules being implemented in Delhi?”
The chief minister is learnt to have told the L-G that people would avoid getting tested for the disease fearing they would be sent off to an institutional quarantine facility for five days.
The officials also said that Kejriwal mentioned the shortage of health care staff and the difficulties in getting doctors and nurses at such a short notice for thousands of patients at the quarantine centres.
The meeting between the Delhi administration and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority on the 5-day mandatory quarantine order ended on Saturday without reaching any conclusion. Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said they failed to reach an agreement and will meet again at 5 pm.
No consensus could be reached on the issue of Covid-19 treatment rates in private hospitals. Sisodia said that the Centre has recommended reduction of rates only for 24% of the beds in private hospitals whereas the Delhi government wants this to be 60%. This will also be discussed in the 5 pm meeting today.
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